Now these were the circumstances of the birth of Jesus Christ. Mary, his mother, was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married it was found that she was about to become a mother through the influence of the holy Spirit.

Now after the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem in Judea, in the days of King Herod, astrologers from the east arrived at Jerusalem,

" 'And you, Bethlehem in Judah's land, You are by no means least important among the leading places of Judah, For from you will come a leader Who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' "

But your way of speaking must be 'Yes' or 'No.' Anything that goes beyond that comes from the evil one.

And if you are polite to your brothers and no one else, what is there remarkable in that? Do not the very heathen do that?

"But take care not to do your good deeds in public for people to see, for, if you do, you will get no reward from your Father in heaven.

But when you give to charity, your own left hand must not know what your right hand is doing,

so that no one may see that you are fasting, except your Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees what is secret, will reward you.

No slave can belong to two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or stand by one and make light of the other. You cannot serve God and money.

"Pass no more judgments upon other people, so that you may not have judgment passed upon you.

Why do you keep looking at the speck in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the beam that is in your own?

So if you, bad as you are, know enough to give your children what is good, how much more surely will your Father in heaven give what is good to those who ask him for it!

No sound tree can bear bad fruit, and no poor tree can bear good fruit.

Then I will say to them plainly, 'I never knew you! Go away from me, you who do wrong!'

And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and wild birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head!"

Now at some distance from them there was a great drove of pigs feeding.

Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said, "Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts?

But I would have you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your bed and go home!"

But no one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old coat, for the patch will tear away from the coat, and make the hole worse than ever.

And people do not put new wine into old wine-skins, or if they do, the skins burst, and the wine runs out and the skins are spoiled. But people put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and so both are saved."

But the sight of the crowds of people filled him with pity for them, because they were bewildered and dejected, like sheep that have no shepherd.

And where no one will welcome you, or listen to you, leave that house or town and shake off its very dust from your feet.

But when they give you up, you must have no anxiety about how to speak or what to say, for you will be told at the very moment what you ought to say,

Have no fear of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. You had better be afraid of one who can destroy both soul and body in the pit.

No one who loves father or mother more than he loves me is worthy of me, and no one who loves son or daughter more than he loves me is worthy of me,

and no one who will not take up his cross and follow me is worthy of me.

And no one who will give the humblest of my disciples even a cup of cold water because he is my disciple, I tell you, can ever fail of his reward."

Now when John heard in prison of what the Christ was doing, he sent by his disciples

"I tell you, among men born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has ever appeared. And yet those who are of little importance in the Kingdom of Heaven are greater than he.

But from the time of John the Baptist until now men have been taking the Kingdom of Heaven by storm and impetuously crowding into it.

Now that the Son of Man has come, he does eat and drink, and people say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drinker, the companion of tax-collectors and irreligious people!' And yet Wisdom is vindicated by her actions!"

Everything has been handed over to me by my Father, and no one understands the Son but the Father, nor does anyone understand the Father but the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

But if you knew what the saying means, 'It is mercy, not sacrifice, that I care for,' you would not have condemned men who are not guilty.

But Jesus knew of this, and he left that place. And numbers of people followed him about, and he cured them all,

??n fulfilment of what was said by the prophet Isaiah,

He will not wrangle or make an outcry, And no one will hear his voice in the streets;

But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to them, "Any kingdom that is disunited is on the way to destruction, and any city or household that is disunited cannot last.

But he answered, "Only a wicked and faithless age insists upon a sign, and no sign will be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.

but when the sun came up it was scorched and withered up, because it had no root.

He answered, "You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they are not.

but it takes no real root in him, and lasts only a little while, and when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, he gives it up at once.

But he said, 'No, for in gathering up the weeds you may uproot the wheat.

He said to them, "Then remember that every scribe who has become a disciple of the Kingdom of Heaven must be like a householder who can supply from his storeroom new things as well as old."

Then his disciples came up to him and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were shocked to hear you say that?"

He said, "Have even you no understanding yet?

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, "I pity these people for they have been staying with me three days now and they have nothing left to eat, and I do not mean to send them away hungry, for they may give out on the way."

"It is a wicked and faithless age that insists on a sign, and no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah." And he left them and went away.

When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus himself.

and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two of them shall become one'? So they are no longer two but one.

Jesus said to them, "In the new world, I tell you, when the Son of Man takes his seat on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel!

But many who are first now will be last then, and many who are now last will be first.

But he answered one of them, 'My friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not agree with me on a dollar?

Have I no right to do what I please with what is mine? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'

So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last."

But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking for! Can you drink what I am going to drink?" They answered, "Yes, we can."

But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the heathen lord it over them, and their great men tyrannize over them.

Now this happened in fulfilment of what was said by the prophet,

and seeing a fig tree by the roadside, he went up to it, but found nothing on it but leaves. And he said to it, "No more fruit shall ever grow on you!" And the fig tree withered up at once.

Jesus answered, "I tell you, if you have faith and have no doubt, you will not only do what I have done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea,' it will be done.

And they answered Jesus, "We do not know." He said to them, "Nor will I tell you what authority I have for doing as I do.

When the high priests and the Pharisees heard his figures, they knew that he was speaking about them,

But they took no notice of it, and went off, one to his estate, and another to his business,

So they sent their disciples to him with the Herodians, to say to him, "Master, we know that you tell the truth, and teach the way of God with sincerity, regardless of the consequences, for you are impartial.

On the same day some Sadducees came up to him, claiming that there is no resurrection, and they asked him this question:

Now there were seven brothers among us. The first of them married and died, and as he had no children, he left his wife to his brother;

For after the resurrection there is no marrying or being married, but they live as angels do in heaven.

And no one could make him any answer, and from that day no one ventured to ask him any more questions.

Now I leave you to yourselves.

Jesus answered, "Take care that no one misleads you about this.

for there will be greater misery then than there has ever been from the beginning of creation until now, or ever will be again.

"Let the fig tree teach you the lesson. As soon as its branches grow soft and put forth leaves, you know that summer is coming.

So when you see all these things, you must know that he is just at the door.

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.

For just as it was in the time of Noah, it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

For just as in those days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and being married, until the very day Noah entered the ark,

and knew nothing about it until the flood came and destroyed them all, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

So you must be on the watch, for you do not know on what day your Master is coming.

that slave's master will come back some day when he does not expect him, and at some time of which he does not know

Now five of them were foolish and five were sensible.

For the foolish ones brought their lamps but brought no oil with them,

But he answered, 'I tell you, I do not know you!'

So you must be on the watch, for you do not know either the day or the hour.

And the man who had received the one thousand came up and said, 'Sir, I knew you were a hard man, who reaped where you had not sown, and gathered where you had not threshed,

His master answered, 'You wicked, idle slave! You knew that I reaped where I had not sown and gathered where I had not threshed?

when I had no clothes, you gave me clothes, when I was sick, you looked after me, when I was in prison, you came to see me.'

when I was a stranger, you did not invite me home, when I had no clothes, you did not supply me, when I was sick and in prison, you did not look after me.'

"You know that in two days the Passover Festival will come, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

And I tell you I will never drink this product of the vine again till the day when I shall drink the new wine with you in my Father's kingdom!"

Now the man who betrayed him gave them a signal, saying, "The one I kiss is the man. Seize him!"

Now the high priests and the whole council were trying to get false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put him to death.

And the high priest got up and said to him, "Have you no answer to make? What about their evidence against you?"

Then the high priest tore his clothing and said, "He has uttered blasphemy! What do we want of witnesses now? Here you have heard his blasphemy!

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a maid came up to him, and said, "You were with Jesus the Galilean, too!"

But he denied it before them all, and said, "I do not know what you mean."

He denied it again, with an oath, and said, "I do not know the man!"

Then he started to swear with the strongest oaths, "I do not know the man!" And at that moment a cock crowed.

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said, "Yes."

And while the high priests and elders were making their charges against him, he made no answer.

And he made him no reply to even a single accusation, so that the governor was greatly surprised.

Now at festival time the governor was accustomed to release for the people any prisoner whom they chose,